Quote Originally Posted by AndyL View Post
From the story CNR linked to: "Giedo van der Garde won a court decision to force F1 team Sauber to reinstate him after they dumped him..."

This all seems very strange to me. For a court to order specific performance as a remedy in a dispute such as this sounds highly unusual. You might expect an order for specific performance in a case over transfer of ownership of some unique item, but in an employment dispute?
Of course it's possible that the media is simply doing its usual crap job of reporting the actual facts when it comes to the law or science.
OK lets get some facts clear
He won the court case in the Swiss and now the Australian courts because he had a very valid contract that specifically stated that he was to be given a race seat in 2015.
Sauber can argue all they want but this was clearly a misstep on their part and rightfully should pay the consequences for their shortsighted actions.
If they were smart about it, they would pay up the required amount to release him from this contract. Something they should have done in the first place before signing the other 2.
But they callously didn't and thought he was just going to go away without a fight because typically drivers are told not to fight these matters if they want an opportunity to drive again in the F1 cabal.
GVdG made the right call for himself because that notion is stupid and implies that other F1 teams would not sign a driver who complains about being unfairly mistreated. Seats are hard to come by and who is to say he will ever race again if he just went away. Then there is the matter of money, time and investment he made to the outfit.

As to the other 2 drivers, to me it is akin to someone who was married and then goes ahead and marries another woman. IMO that 2nd spouse is rendered illegitimate by the fact that there already is a first spouse and thus any rights they think they have are superseded by the needs of the first one.

Sauber are a mess. They could have signed erriccson as a 3rd driver and promised him a seat for 2016 after GVdG leaves. Something the less than impressive erricson could have used, given his abysmal performance last year.